The weather, the friends and family there, the countless goodies, the playing, the face painting – everything.

I felt pretty good all day, really. I started to get sad in the morning, and prayed for calmness and peace and for feeling him close to me. I spent some time thinking about how the relationship is still there – I am still his mother and he is still my son and we still love each other – and that there’s no bonus award for the length of life you have. Like, in the big scheme of things, it doesn’t matter except to those of us who are still here and missing him. And that, in his toddler world, even nighttime was far away every day, let alone the next day. Every day lasts forever when you’re as young as he was.

It’s really, really powerfully meaningful to Daddy J and me (and the boys, too, I imagine) that we are able to celebrate Wardie’s birthday in a fun, cheery way, surrounded by friends and family. It seems to be an event that kids and adults enjoy, which makes me very happy.

I copied a few of the pics that our good friend TJ posted on teh interweb:

Grandma MJ being a good sport with the face painting:

And the balloon release…

There they go…

Last year, no one ever reported finding a balloon from the release. It was a really windy day, and I think it stormed that night, so maybe all the cards are tangled in a tree somewhere. Also, I made the blog private, so we’ll never know if they get found now. (This year, I put my email address and cell phone number on the cards.) It is fun to see where they go, and I like to mail out ornaments to people that find them.

Adoption news: There is no adoption news.

Except: Our good friend Carol is going to email me the info for a lawyer in Florida from whom her friend’s cousin (or sister?) just adopted a baby, so that I can get on that lawyer’s list, too.

And I did indeed get a big shot of everyone with a ‘Welcome Baby’ sign. Daddy J. had it taken on our camera, and it’s not part of my skill set to download and save pics, but it looks like it turned out great. That pic will for sure make it into the Rainbow’s scrapbook, and possibly get added to the profile. I think it will be awesome for Rainbow (and the birthmom) to see how much he or she is anticipated.

****edited to addAND I am well and profoundly annoyed with an adoption agency in Florida that I called not once but twice on Friday (TWICE!!) and they didn’t return my call. The secretary first said the person I needed to talk to was at lunch, and then she was in a meeting, but would call me back in half an hour. Which really bugs, b/c now I don’t know whether to stop persuing this agency (which came well recommended) since they can’t even be bothered to return my inquiry, or whether it’s just a flaky secretary having a bad day, and I should call them a third time and sign up with them.